Sunday, 14 May 2017

200 Word RPG Challenge 2017 reviews (part 3: T until end)

THINGS BEYOND

PbtA pitch
for a setting where religion holds out against eldritch horrors. Nice to see a
game where religion isn’t the bad guy. Some nice ideas.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

TROLLS

Actual
trolls trolling each other about their appearance. Basically a morality game,
but I’m not sure if it’s meant to be played seriously or comically (gameplay
mainly comprises of insulting each other.)

Concept:
Great

System: Good

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Good

Take a Drink: the Roleplaying Game

Drinking
game mechanic where you have to drink more the harder the task is.

Concept: meh

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: meh

Taking a long way home

Music-based
character creation using lines from random songs. Intended for long journeys,
much of the journey may be completed by the time character creation is
finished; may have been better to have actual gameplay based on the music
instead.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Tales from the Lost Kitchen

Anthropological
improv using kitchen implements to discover the truth of the past.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Tales from the Wild West

Tall tales
and nerf marksmanship in a frontier saloon. Each story escalates Monty
Python-style. Also includes a spin-the-bottle game.

Concept:
Good

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Talking Sticks

Find a
stick, tell its story. Really nice apart from the problem that longer sticks
always win, regardless of story.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Tall Tales and Tankards

Ah, this is
how to incorporate a drinking game into storytelling! Munchausen silliness and
interruptions all incorporating the use of drinking and clinking.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Tears in Heaven

A bunch of
dead martyrs have a party, hoping to become saints. Like a saintly frat party.
Lots of charts to help run and design the game, but if it ain’t your thing
they’re unlikely to help.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Terrible Village

Bidding and
bluffing game about trying not to be responsible for why your village sucks.
Somewhat confusing mechanics, but it seems to work.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Thank You For Sharing

Friend A
mentions a thing they like and Friend B spends aaaaages bitching about it. Then
A creates a piece of writing and B gushes over it far too much. Sadly, the
gushing may seem a bit manufactured, but the bitching might not. Nice try.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Thank you for the feast

Dinner party
game of poisoning and attempting to guess whodunit to you. Unfortunately,
there’s very little in the way of tactics or motive, so the game itself is a
bit shallow. Fun, but shallow. (See The Banquet.)

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Ark

Pitch for a
spaceship setting. A really nice pitch, but there’s no game or frame here.

Concept:
Great

System: n/a

Execution: Ok

Verdict:
Flawed

The ArrrPG

The Banquet: A Mealtime RPG

Another game
in which you intend to “poison” your fellow diners (like Thank you for the
feast) but this one has more tactics and various mechanics to force people to
eat. Rules of etiquette offer a load of fun.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

The Basic RPG

If you’re
going to make the simplest roleplaying game ever, it needs to be perfect. With
that in mind, the author should have used a semicolon instead of a comma.

Concept: meh

System: Ok

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Beasts Shall No Longer Walk This Earth

The players
hunt a beast. I love the descriptors for both hunters and beast, but the d10
mechanic isn’t inspiring.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Bengleflaarg

Alien
invader suburban comedy game. Very entertaining.

Concept: Great

System: Good

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The Bridge

Nice idea
where two players are lovers and a third player is the distance between them,
which is a beautiful setup. The tools at play don’t do a lot for it, though.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Chinese Room

Newly awoken
AIs explore the world around them. The central question, of course, is what
kind of choices and observations will they make. A simple d6 mechanic helps
offer a basic interactivity, but it’s hardly thematic.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

The Chronicles of…

Improv
storytelling where any player may interrupt and refute or elaborate another’s
tale. No real mechanic or game, but perfectly fine. A “no-frills” story game.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Circle

Teenage
witches are fun. The card mechanic is less fun, though it suffices. This is a
setting that could have used a tarot deck.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Council

Gods vote on
a new ruler, but one will betray them all if elected. A hidden role game at
heart, but no tactics to assist gameplay.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: meh

The Creation

Another gods
game where they create life and imbue them with their essence. Use whatever
system you want.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Day They Came

What begins
seeming like a bleak tale of the end of days becomes a weird take on
Chinese-whispers cum Telestrations. Rather original and quite entertaining.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

The Deep Dark

Roleplaying
is supplementary in this dice-based resources game. As a simple board game, it
isn’t bad.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Delve

Collaborative
dungeon dive. A lot of unclear elements (examples of loot and when to add extra
dice would help.)

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Devil on my Shoulder

Wraith-ish
Shadow mechanic with cards.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Domino’s Delivery Crew RP(za)G

Silly little
metagame where you play create a gamer and play a random game from this
competition all within the time it takes to have a pizza delivered to your
home. Certainly worth reading at the very least.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Great

The Dreamer

Interesting
concept where you enter someone’s dream and try to coax them out of a
nightmare. The Dreamer’s emotional state is subject to your manipulation, but
the multiple d6 method is fairly arbitrary.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Dreaming Giant

At first it
seems just like a pitch, and a very good one at that. But this game has one of
the best and subtlest of mechanics I’ve seen in any game; the lessons from
stories create the means of progressing through stories. Masterful!

Concept:
Great

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

The Duel

Ah, a
Prisoner’s Dilemma about a duel, where the history of it is revealed during
play. Very nice!

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

The Duelin’ Blues

Music games
often get unfair criticism for requiring a high degree of talent/training in
order to play, but a lack of accessibility shouldn’t mean such games don’t have
an audience. The use of cards as cues is fair, but the ruffian is far more
inspirational and maybe another chart could be made to reflect that (aces are
cops, Kings are kingpins, Queens are jilted lovers, etc.)

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

The Empire won the war, but the people lost

A really
nice fantasy concept, but the d6 system thrown on at the end is simplistic and
forgettable.

Concept: Good

System: meh

Execution:
Great

Verdict: Ok

The Filigree Prince

A flirty
little game of rhymes and innuendos, with a tantalizing setup. Definitely for a
group that doesn’t mind a bit of tease and… playfulness.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The Four Gates: A Mindful RPG

A system
based on fur pillars of mindfulness. Only advisable for certain types of game
(Pilgrim’s Progress comes to mind) but could be adapted for some kind of holy
or ascetic magic powers mechanic. Interesting.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict: Ok

The Futility of Unrequited Sentiments

3 player
game of uncomfortable discussions about feelings and the history between lovers.
Might actually be easier with more players, but not sure if easy is intended.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Game of Magical Thinking

A writing game
for one player in which a letter is Sacrificed every paragraph or so until the
author is unable to continue. Fits the themes of grief very well, and though a
story is told it should be noted that no role is being played here.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The Goblin Warrens

Inverse
dungeon crawl with each player controlling five goblins apiece. Each is
represented by coloured d6 defining their major attribute, which is cute, but
the gameplay comes down to literally throwing goblins at problems. Fun, but
needs something more to be really memorable.

*NB: that
something more might possibly be the 200 word adventure the designer has
created for this game on another website. However, in the interests of purity,
I can’t consider it when reviewing the competition entry.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict: Ok

The Great Work

Tarot deck
storytelling about creating a wonder. Bit of a shame if some other Alchemist
draws your endgame card instead of you. Would be nice if the cards that
advanced you closer to your goal had a game effect to that end.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Haints’ House

Two-pronged
d6 game mechanic with “and/but” mechanics. Play monsters, deal with humans.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Hands of Rasputin

Roll dice,
add points for roleplaying, beat target… but what dice? And how many?

Concept:
Good

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Flawed

The Heist

Simple loot’n’scoot
game with d6s. You can make the game harder for people if you want, but
generally you’ll want to work together for fear of screwing everything.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Hero Heads Home

Classic
Tolkienesque fantasy in reverse. I think that the second act might not be as
good as the first, but that’s a minor quibble.

Concept:
Great

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

The Hero’s Last Stand

An
interesting alignment mechanic disguises d8-mod-beat target. It seems you might
not want to be too Reckless.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
Good

Verdict: Ok

The Heroes’ Journey

Storytelling
game to incorporate while on a Geocache hunt. Nice to see this tool used, but
there’s not much more to it.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
meh

Verdict: Ok

The Holy Mountain

Interesting
little roleplay about pilgrims with various restrictions, which are each broken
throughout play. Has some direction, but is it enough?

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

The Human World

Hilarious
concept where four broken robots explain an ordinary environment to a child.
Each robot has a different agenda and the child picks which is correct.
Wonderful!

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

The Island of Derring-do

Cards go in
piles and are used to overcome obstacles. One interesting mechanic ensures you
keep changing tactics, which is nice.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The King and its Mute Jesters

Charades
with a lick of paint. Could have been more.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Last Day

Q&A
based game of character and story creation, which seems really best for one
player. Very evocative, though.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict: Great

The Last Dragon

Seasonal
dragon sim. No real need to roleplay.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Last Summer

A heavy game
of discrimination, hatred, despair, and death. Blackjack core adds some
tension, and we all know that the house always wins, don’t we?

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The Life of Paul

Tell a tale
of a regular Joe (or Paul, as it were.) Roll high to introduce good things,
roll low to introduce bad.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Good

The Manor Game Farm Purge

Animals in a
zoo try to survive the night. Breaking character results in failing tasks,
which might result in the GM having to be mean and arbitrary. Great setup, but
needs revising.

Concept:
Great

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Marketers

Funny improv
game where players try to come up with amusing marketing strategies for a
stupid product. That’s all great, but the random d6 mechanic falls flat.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Mug Is Half…

Coffee
drinking chart. Made for amusement rather than actual play, but if you ever
need to roll to see how a character’s coffee affects them, this is your plug-on.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Orb

Character
web based around a MacGuffin.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Orpheus Trail

An
interesting afterlife journey on the highway to hell, but there’s slightly too
much that remains vague about the game (Sinning, in particular.) I like the
premise, but I need more.

The Outsiders RPG

The People You Meet On The Graveyard Shift

Minimum wage
sim with random rolling that can see your life improve or end prematurely on a
whim. More a lesson than a game, and a bleak one.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Perfect Moment Is Now

Card
mechanic which seems pretty uninspired, but I do like being able to discard all
options in order to play the one of your choice, which is a decent cog. The
time-cop pitch would make an interesting conflict for a team who has to
continuously prevent people from assassinating Hitler.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Petitioners

Character
creation charts to help build a petitioner, but only one chart helps build
anything about their motives and needs (which is what the story seems to
actually be about.)

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Places Where I Found You

Intriguing
storygame where every player contributes something different (with one merely
drawing pictures.) A really interesting ghost story dynamic.

Concept:
Good

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The Protector

Exploring
the line between rumour and reality, where a mysterious protector may not be
all they appear. Though I usually don’t like arbitrary card mechanics,
especially binary ones, this is perfectly reasonable. However, I’d like
something more than what amounts to a coin flip at the end.

Concept:
Great

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

The Quest for the Object of Desires

Roll a d6,
get higher than a 4 (or 4+ if skilled.) Fail three times and die. Succeed five
times and win.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Rapid and the Raging

Solve
problems by becoming more powerful. A driving game where shifting gears shifts
the power level of the power fantasy. Power, power, power!

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

The Sorcerer Supreme!

Spell
creation chart is pretty nifty, but the d20 mechanic isn’t so hot. Really like
the chart options and it has a lot of potential. Better than Vancian magic any
day.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Spirits Somnia

Dream
delving game. Roll 3d6 and try to hit the target number dead-on.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Stars Are Angry

A die-drop
game (yay!) with a map of the Earth (double-yay!) Whaat you roll and where you
roll have an impact on the story you tell. Nice work!

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Great

Execution: Great

Verdict:
Excellent

The Suits RPG

Nice idea
about professional magician mercenaries, but the card system is tired.

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The Tale

Munchausen-esque
stories of initiates challenged on their quests. Not bad, but not new.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Tavern at Dungeon Level 200

Hospitality
staff try to get the missing ingredient in a dish to serve to a monster. Roll a
d6, beat 4+ for partial success, 6 for a full success; roll two dice and choose
for advantage. The idea is wasted on this.

Concept:
Great

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Tavern of Tall Tales

Collaborative
storytelling with custom cards each containing opposites, but only a few such
cards are given (players are expected to make the rest. Would have been nice to
see 50-100 words knocked off the document to give us a better starting list.
Regardless, not bad.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Good

The Things We Do For Love

Collaborative
storytelling over an argument with the interesting twist that a player loses if
they contradict anything previously established. A very simple mechanic, but a
good one.

Concept:
Good

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Town of M

Very simple game
of a town and the laws, expectations, and norms expected of inhabitants using
M&Ms as the core mechanic (in a couple of different ways, which is great
Citizens can fight back against the leader by flipping their M&Ms, but lose
any they flip. A clever leader could make this game amazing.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

The Trial

Based on the
Kafka story, this is a bidding game for narrative control where the Accused is
kept in the dark. Has potential.

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Tribe

Stone age
adventures where a language is made in-play. Limiting out of character speech
would be essential, and some form of miming mechanic would have assisted this. With
a bit of tweaking this will be great.

Concept: Great

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Trust

Would be a
much more interesting game of corporate greed if the actions of the
Corporations and their Factories actually affected the People player in some
way, giving them an agenda.

Concept:
Great

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The Truth of the Stars

Another
wonderful die-drop game about making constellations and myths to support them.
Beautiful!

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

The Victory Circle; A Nano-Larp

A
choose-your-own-atrocity scripted larp with a lot to say about who writes
history.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The Village

Oh what a
beautiful, tantalizing pitch for a story here. But it’s all a pitch. I love
this setup, but where’s the tools?

Concept:
Great

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Flawed

The Wake

A lovely improv
story about the death of a mutual friend. Players effectively challenge each
other to relate a memory or thought as sincerely as possible.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

The World of Retail

I love games
set in everyday situations, but the randomness here doesn’t help the game.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The awakening of Asrya

Reanimated
dead seek to find their purpose in death.

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: meh

The day we were Free

Bidding game
of narrative control where players are psychiatric inmates. Having two kinds of
thematic resources is a cute touch. Needs something more, though not sure what…

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

The faithful few

Temple
priests fight using cards and dice. The setting adds nothing to the system, and
the system tells no story. Not exciting.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

The fuel is gone

Alien style
horror which could be great, but it’s hard to tell because the map of the ship
requires formatting that got damaged in reformatting.

Concept:
Good

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Flawed

Verdict:
Flawed

The killing action

A system to
track motives for killing in regards to a murderous character. Regret is well
done, but Hatred needs just a little tweaking.

Concept:
Great

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Good

The labyrinthine library

An excellent
storytelling device using Scrabble tiles. This is actually the best use of
Scrabble Tiles I’ve seen in an RPG.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Great

The stars going out, one by one

Lovely
setup, 1d6 beat target drops the ball.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict: Ok

The story of my life

An improv
storygame for those spending a lot of time in a queue.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

The world is ending

Write down
disasters, write down resources, challenge players to overcome your disasters
with their resources.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

There Is No Way Out Of This Arena

Whittle down
a gladiator’s hit points until they die.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

They’re just dice, right?

A short
story about adventurers. As fun as it is, it isn’t what the contest is about.
Thanks for the story.

Concept:
Flawed

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Flawed

Verdict:
Flawed

This Is Not an RPG

Word game
which builds to help tell a story, but how many sides are meant to be on this
spinner?

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Thomas Crown Affair RPG

Cat and
mouse format between a thief and an investigator, but apart from a scene
breakdown there isn’t a lot to go on. It takes more than a plot description to
make a systemless game.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: meh

Those Last Moments

Juicy
five-minute writing exercise.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Those Who Fled

Underdog
survival rpg. 3d6, beat target, add mods. Better than some.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Time Travel Start-Up Company

Ruthless PvP
roleplay of time-travelling entrepreneurs involving a domino mechanic. Sadly,
the roleplay is cosmetic to the system.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Time To Run

Asymmetrical
“netrunning” game where you can introduce a non-action scene in order to break
up the mundane gameplay.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Tiny Tribe

Smurftastic
idea, but the system is incredibly vague as to be almost nonexistent.

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

To Alex!

Friends
reminisce over a friend’s death. There are a few games of this type in the
competition but this is one of the better ones, if not the best.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

To Sea In A Sieve!

Nice to see
a game based on the nonsensical works of Edward Lear, but 2d6 roll under
attribute shows a lack of imagination which the rest of the game aspires to.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

To Serve A Monstrous Empress: A Sacrifice

Dark game of
offering tribute to an uncaring mistress. Unfortunately, there’s no deviation
from the narrow plotting; some kind of competitiveness between the supplicants
would have made this game much better.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Great

Verdict:
Good

Too Many Love!

Attempt at a
competitive romance game, but the system is merely serviceable.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Too Much Bubblegum: More than you can chew!

Fast game of
player elimination with an alien abduction theme. Fun way to waste some time.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Good

Tracy Is Dead

Use traffic
and different coloured cars to help recount a story of a deceased friend. Nice
to see a “car game” in the competition.

Concept:
Good

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

Transient Global Amnesia System

Revolving
narrative game performed in whispers so that only two people know what’s
happening at any one time. It’s any interesting mechanic, but doesn’t see full
potential here.

Concept: meh

System: Ok

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Translation of Cave 7 Pictographs: First RPG?

Basic
d6-based system, but the charm lies in the primitive explanations.
Unfortunately there are better caveman games in the comp.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Great

Verdict: Ok

Trapped in Deep 7

Work
together to repair an underwater vessel before you all. The use of a jigsaw
puzzle and actual exploding pressure seals makes this something special. A
great minigame for a more intense larp.

Concept:
Great

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict: Excellent

Trash Pandas

Heist game
with the interesting twist that you’re all raccoons. The characters are cool
and each has a simple special power, though some seem better than others.
Sadly, the story is cosmetic and the system does little to inspire, but everything
else is great.

Concept:
Excellent

System: Good

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

Travelling is not so easy…

Travelling
simulator with a random encounters chart. Could be useful plugged onto a larger
game.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Treaty at the Stones of Black and White

A way to add
a variant endgame onto Go. As I’m only passingly familiar with the game, I’ll
give it the benefit of the doubt.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Good

Triad – Deckbuilding Game

Pitch for a
deckbuilding rpg, but it has a long way to go. Incomplete.

Concept: Ok

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Flawed

Verdict:
Flawed

Tripping Over Yourself

An odd idea
where the players play the various body parts of an adventurer, combining their
2d6-beat-target rolls to succeed. Might be good for a Voltron style of game,
but it just isn’t exciting.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Triumphs and Disasters

Largely a
solo writing game based on a line from a famous Kipling poem.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Truth, Lies and Bullets

Truth or Lie
game of Russian roulette. Simple, but effective.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Turing Story Machine

Storytelling
with cards and a token where story elements can be changed or erased. So much
time was spent on the presentation of the game that user-friendly game
mechanics were sacrificed. Nice try.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Tyrze, a MMORPG

Pitch for an
MMORPG, as the name suggests, and sadly not what the competition is about. Best
of luck.

Concept:
Flawed

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Flawed

Verdict:
Flawed

Ufology For Beginners

It might
only be a simple d20 system, but the way it uses your name as both a benefit
and a hindrance is fantastic!

Concept: Good

System:
Great

Execution: Great

Verdict:
Good

Ultimate fantasy (or is it?)

Harem
simulator where your harem is bound to fall apart.

Concept: Ok

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Ummenbach

Basic card
game of elimination where two players will end up marrying in order to preserve
peace. Story is cosmetic.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Unanimous

Collaborative
game of survival where it is in everyone’s best interest to vote for you to
succeed. So you will.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Under the Mountain

Storytelling
game of dwarves and their mountain. It’s supposed that your group will be
victorious, so the mechanics are more about storytelling. Using coins for the
core system works for greedy dwarves, and gaining coins for playing NPCs is
nice.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Unknown Kingdoms: The Footsteps of Marco Polo

World-building
with a deck of cards, which is nice, and I can even cope with the 2d6-beat-card-taarget
for this, since it allows you bonuses for previous places discovered.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

VOICE

Yet one more
“godly” game, but this one focuses on their creation which is played by one of
the participants. The gifts of the gods are the very essence of what this
entity becomes, and it in turn helps to give the gods their own identity. Very
clever game.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Great

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Vain Superheroes

Superheroes
gain Fame based on the difficulty of the obstacles they face, so wouldn’t it be
best to go out and beat up lots of low difficulty street thugs so that you’re
at less risk? Maybe that’s the point. 3d6, beat target, gain target as Fame if
successful.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Valkyrie Girlfriend

Dating
improv about a human and a Valkyrie. An entertaining premise.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

Valor: The Dimming Flame

A system for
testing the resolve of paladin characters. With a bit of tweaking it could be a
serviceable supplementary system, but as a stand-alone game it’s missing
something.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Vegas

Ooh, a
really biting game played over the phone over multiple days, which is a treat.
The relationship between the two characters is strained, and there’s a lot to
love here… except that it just needs one more little spark to truly ignite.
Maybe a promise, or a set of codephrases… Whatever it is, it’ll shoot this into
another class.

Vestalia: Girls Just Want To Have Fun(ding)

Vigilantics

Wonderful
premise with the world’s most mundane superheroes is let down by an equally
mundane (but less amusing) d6 system.

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

WAR and FAITH

A rather
silly game where you get to roll dice and set fire to stuff. Viscerally fun,
but no elegance.

Concept:
Great

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

WITCHFEELS

Cybermagic
spellslinging with one of those two-tone d6 systems (where you roll higher than
your stat to do one thing and lower to do another.)

Concept:
Good

System: meh

Execution:
Good

Verdict: Ok

WORTHY

Character
creation/epic storygame telling of an adventurers first quest and how they have
changed over the years. Q&A format, and rather nice.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Good

Wannabe Legend

Supers game
with the two intriguing stats of Succeeding and Impressing, but the d10
mechanic they use is underwhelming.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Watch Out! Heartfelt Magical Girl Clash!

A tale of
emotion-fuelled girl-warriors and their adversary. The use of colours is great,
and the idea that the Adversary needs to be overpowered through emotion is
intriguing, but I can’t help but think the Adversary should be able to have
some tricks to adjust emotions too. Also, all Girls feeling the same emotion is
a more satisfying finale than the easier alternative. A lot of potential.

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

Weapons of Legend

Create funny
weapons for each other, justify why yours is the best, vote to see who wins.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Werewolf

Try to
balance your Wolf and Man sides. System is vague and uninteresting, I’m afraid.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Wesworld

A three-act
Wes Anderson story with some vague storytelling guidleines, but the real star
is the d12 character creation chart. Forget the storytelling advice and give me
a couple more charts!

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

What Could Go Wrong?

The best
heist game off the competition! Every roll invests every player, which is
fantastic! And it gives me a reason to bust out those zocchi dice that see far
too little playtime. A lot of games have been trying to pull off the
complicated heist caper, but this one does it in style.

Concept:
Great

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

What The #@*$ Happened Last Night?

Hangover-style
amnesia where you slowly piece together the night through improv. The phone
call partway into the game is a highlight.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Good

What You Carry

Afterlife
game were you roll for random equipment, hoping to get a lot of gold stuff.
Roll d20 vs GM”s 3d6 roll.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

When the Fire Dies

Very
thematic game about the last fire and the world that is about to end, but I’m
not big on the token voting mechanic. And does the number of matches change
depending on the number of players?

Concept:
Great

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

When the Wolves Come…

Great game
for hiking, whether it be urban or rural. Scout for locations, supplies, and
information so that your group is prepared for when the wolves come. Easily
adaptable.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution: Great

Verdict:
Great

Where’d It All Go Wrong?

Heist story
gone wrong, with tokens to take over narration and add detail. Nothing fresh,
but nothing bad.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict:
Good

Whip

Argument
roleplay for a very select kind of roleplayer (you have to be willing to suffer
actual physical pain.) In order to interject you must suffer the forfeit,
refuse to do so and the character walks away. As much as this is an interesting
concept, I think it might need something else as well to give it some depth
(such as a way to inflict pain on the other, or to suffer the forfeit while not
responding, etc.) Not for everyone, and not meant to be; I’m personally very
glad to see some kink in the competition as it’s an important facet of the roleplaying
spectrum.

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

Whispers in the Dark

A “turn off
the lights” game using a flashing d20, but the result on the die face is less
important than whether it flashes or not. Though an elimination game at heart,
eliminated players still get to participate, which is great. A basic mechanic
for the d20 face would have been welcome, though.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Who Am I To You

Charming
collaborative improv/writing game about a couple in a relationship. Scenes gain
inspiration from a romantic playlist and at the end of the playlist you read
each other’s hidden notes. A nice game, especially if you have similar music
tastes.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict: Great

Who killed? – Game about investigation

A deduction
game using the cards of a standard deck with some fascinating ways to interpret
them. However, one important rule stops mid-explanation leaving the game
unfinished. I really want to know what that rule is!

Concept:
Great

System:
Flawed

Execution:
Flawed

Verdict:
Flawed

Why We Hunt

A nice
little warm-up roleplay with a few simple storytelling mechanics. Worth
tweaking (I’d limit the first four attributes to a choice of two of them, for
example.)

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Great

Why Do I Need A Name?

So much
potential in such a little game! A new intelligence asks questions of the rest
of the players and begins to learn. This is all about what you bring to it, but
so much can be brought to it so easily. Wonderful central concept and well
presented.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Wilder

Lost people
try to find their way home. The initial choice out of three advantages was
nice, but it just gives you a +1 to a d6 roll. Standard walk in the park,
really.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Ok

Witch Hunt

A nice
pentacle character creation leads into a die-rollin’ combat simulator where
allies can assist. Points for having the star, but less for not really saying
what escaping does for Air, or how protecting works for Earth.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: meh

Wittgenstein’s Monster

Cobble together
rules from random gamebooks to create an unholy abomination. See RPG Gumbo for
more comments (basically the same game.)

Concept:
Good

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict: Ok

Wizard Journal

Collaborative
writing game about a bunch of wizards and their world. Includes a tarot deck
mechanic without boring us to death about it, thank goodness! Simple and solid.

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

Wizards of the Tome

Brilliant
game where players have spellbooks with spells based on chapter titles of
actual books. The GM runs a module based on chapter titles of another book.
Brilliant!

Concept:
Great

System:
Great

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Word Wizards

Wizardly
spellcasting with Wikipedia as the core tool. Could be fun. The Word Dive rules
are good, especially with the ruling about Wizards getting a bonus when the GM
resorts to it.

Concept:
Good

System: Good

Execution:
Ok

Verdict: Good

World of Stats

2d6, add
mod, beat target, tell story.

Concept: meh

System: meh

Execution:
meh

Verdict: meh

Xenia

Silly party
game with a lot of love going for it, as long as you have the right person
playing Zeus. With one or two small twists, this could be a winner.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Great

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Great

Yammer

Improv game
of fast talking. The referee is in for a difficult scoring time.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict: Ok

You’re a Werewolf but it’s Not a Full Moon

Sweet little
alternate reality game that you and your pack can enjoy over a week (maybe
longer.)

Concept:
Great

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Your Honored Guest

Collaboratively
creating a personality… or is it? Maybe this is a very different form of
exercise, and it might be important for the group to establish that at the
start. Some of the “funeral wake” games show how this form of game can have a
firm theme, and maybe this needs a stronger one.

Concept: Ok

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

Your Journey

Travelers
who must keep on moving, but can visit for a while. The narrative mechanic is
fairly standard, but the character creation is very nice.

Concept: Good

System: Good

Execution:
Good

Verdict:
Good

You’ve Been Screwed

Marooned on
an alien world. Take it in turns to answer questions from a decent d12 chart,
work out what happens, and then describe the future.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Good

Verdict:
Good

Zagyg’s Ancestral Words

Pick words
from a random ist of common D&D elements and build a story around them.
Includes a double d6 mechanic, which seems to fly in the face of the
inspiration (surely d20s would be more appropriate.) Not sure why the game isn’t
called Xagyg’s Ancestral Words.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

Znaroks Rocks

Word game
about a coach who can only vocalise with profanity and insults. Might be fair
to allow the occasional “the, them, those, there” words to help matters along.
The secondary challenge of having to interpret the instructions is a gem of an
idea and improves the whole game.

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Great

Execution:
Excellent

Verdict:
Excellent

Zone-side Picnic

Go to a park
and make up stories about what you find. Encounter a fellow player and you can
try to kill ‘em.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

[REDACTED]

I love
redacting parts of character sheets, and [REDACTED] does it very, very well.
Though I don’t normally like a simple d6 system, the way this game manipulates
it is clean and clever.

Concept:
Great

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

[TECH]: Boldly Go (a starship simulator)

Spaceship
command sim using a lot of blackjack.

Concept: Ok

System: Ok

Execution: Ok

Verdict: Ok

[a collaborative system of creation]

Absolute
genius. Pour wax in water and turn the creations into a shadow puppet cast for
a story. Brilliantly done!

Concept:
Excellent

System:
Excellent

Execution:
Great

Verdict:
Excellent

Xamurai

Funny setup
with all these alliterative -amurais who are defined by their letter, but the
random endgame disappoints.